Pendulum-escapement.



F. GUNDORPH.

PENDULUM ESCAPEMENT.

APPLICATION FILED N0v.8. l9l5.

1,222,757. Patented Apr. 17,1917.

VV/thesses: I 1 2 M lnJentor FERDINAND GUNDORPH, 0F PORTLAND, OREGON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

Application filed November 8, 1915. Serial No. 60,346.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FERDINAND GUN- DORPH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city of Portland, county of Multnomah, and Stateof Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPendulum-Escapements, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to pendulum escapements, and has for its mainobject to provide a pendulum escapement in which the pendulum has acontinuous uniform movement, as distinguished from an oscillatingmovement in which the pendulum swings to a limit, stops and returns.

In order to do this, the pendulum must necessarily have a circularmovement. The problem in connection with a pendulum having a continuousuniform circular motion is to provide a constant operating connectionbetween the upper end of the pendulum rod and the driving power, or atrain of gears, which connection operates to maintain the circularswinging movement of the pendulum, and at the same time provides thatescapement movement, which is required in time pieces.

In my invention, I have accomplished these objects, and in order thatothers may understand the invention I have illustrated one practicalembodiment thereof in the accompanying sheet of drawings which I willnow describe.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pendulum escapement embodying myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the mechanism, showing the pendulum in aswinging position, the lower part of the pendulum being omitted;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view taken on line 33, of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view taken on line 44, of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a top plan view taken on line 5-5, of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a view on an enlarged scale looking toward the line 66 of Fig.4.

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, 1 designates a pendulumrod provided at its lower end with a weight 2, adjustable thereon bymeans of the thumb screw 3, said pendulum rod being provided at itsupper end with a frame comprising a head 4, and a disk 5, connected tosaid head by means of two side rods 6 and 7 The disk, or top member, 5,of said frame is pr0- vided .at one side with an open slot 5, adapted tofit loosely over a pin 8, set in the top of a supporting bracket 9. Thispin operates to steady the pendulum. Mounted upon the end of saidsupporting bracket 9, is a hardened steel point 10,upon which said disk,or top member, 5, is supported, and to this end, said member 5, isprovided in its center with a cup-shaped hard stone, or bearing jewel,as at 11, Fig. 4. Mounted through said disk, or member 5, as close tosaid bearing jewel as possible, is a spindle 12, supported at its lowerend in the top of the head 4, as at 13. This spindle 12, can revolvefreely in its bearings in the member 5, and the head 4, and is providedwith a laterally projecting arm 14, upon the outer end of which ismounted a little weight 15.

A main. supporting bracket 16, is provided, to which the bracket 9 isattached, as indicated. Mounted in the top of the main supportingbracket 16, is a pinion 17, upon a shaft, or arbor, 18, upon the lowerend of which is mounted a crank-like member 19, adapted to engage thearm 14.

Mounted upon the under side of the main bracket 16, is a plurality ofdownwardly projecting pins 2020, there being three of these shown in thepresent construction equally spaced apart, as indicated in Fig. 3. Thesepins project downwardly so as to be engaged at their ends by the outerend of the arm 14, when said arm is in a horizontal position, asindicated in Fig. 1, thus acting as predetermined stops for said arm 14.When the pendulum is in a swinging position, as in Fig. 2, the arm 14,is slightly raised momentarily, which is .at the instant it firstengages one of the pins 20. As the pendulum continues its swingingmovement, however, the arm 14, being free to turn with its spindle 12,moves downwardly, the tilting position of the spindle 12, being changed,until the end of the arm 14, escapes from the end of the pin 20, and isthrown forwardly to .the next pin 20, by the crank-like member 19, onthe arbor 18, of the pinion 17, which is driven from a train of gears,as from a gear 21.

It will be noted from the foregoing de scription that l have eliminatedthe erratic suspension spring which always changes with the temperature,and have provided a constant unalterable suspending bearing for thependulum. lhe propelling force for the pendulum is the same under allconditions. -f the main spring exerts more force at one time than atanother, it will simply cause the impelling member, or arm, 14:, tostrike the sto ins 20-20, a little harder, without altering the impulsetransmitted to the pendulum rod at its head 4:, through the spindle 12,and the swinging weighted arm 1 1. The pendulum absolutely determinesthe movement of escape of the weighted arm 14, from each of the pins2020, and thus accurately controls and regulates the intervals ofmomentary stops in the forward motion of the arm 14. The pendulum iskept in regular motion entirely by the operation of gravity, for eachtime the weighted arm let, escapes from the end of a pin 20, it isthrown forwardly by the crank member 19, and strikes the next pin at ahigher point because of the position of the pendulum rod and the spindle12, as indicated in Fig. 2, whereupon gravity acting upon the littleweight 15, conveys through said arm 14, and the spindle 12, to thependulum an impulse which continues its swinging movement until theangle of the spindle 12, and the arm 14, is changed, and the arm 1%,escapes from one pin 20, and is thrown forwardly to the next pin.

Thus I have provided a practical pendulum escapement in which thependulum has a continuous uniform circular motion, with out any pointsof rest, and in which there is the least possible mechanical connectionfrom the pendulum to the power mechanism from the train of gears of thetime piece.

I am aware that slight changes can be made in the invention as hereembodied for purposes of illustration without departing from the spiritthereof, and I do not, therefore, limit my invention to the particularmechanism here shown, except as I may be limited by the hereto appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. A pendulum escapement comprising in combination a pendulum suspendedto swing in a uniform continuous circular course, a spindle rotatablymounted upon said pendulum and having a laterally projecting weightedarm, stop members spaced apart and adapted to be engaged by said armwhen in one position, the said arm being adapted to be successivelymoved out of engagement with said stop members, and means for moving theweighted arm having a positive driving connection therewith from onestop member to another.

2. A pendulum escapement comprising in combination a pendulum suspendedto swing in a uniform continuous circular course, a spindle rotatablyconnected to said pendulum at a point to one side of its longitudinalaxis and having a weighted arm projecting laterally therefrom, stopmembers equally spaced and adapted to be successively engaged by saidweighted arm as. it is revolved, and means for moving said weighted armfrom one stop member to the other and having a positive drivingconnection therewith, substantially as described.

3. In a pendulum escapement of the character referred to, a pendulumadapted to be suspended to swing in a continuous circular course, aspindle rotatably connected with said pendulum in substantially parallelrelationship therewith and to one side of its longitudinal axis, saidspindle having a laterally projecting weighted arm, and means forintermittently revolving said weighted arm and spindle to differentpositions, whereby to intermittently impart a propelling impulse to saidpendulum, and to maintain its continuous circular movement.

4. A pendulum escapement of the character referred to, comprising apendulum provided at its upper end with means for suspending it torotate in a continuous circular course, means comprising a pin engagingthe upper end of the pendulum for preventing its turning about its ownlongitudinal axis during its circular rotation, positive driving meansmounted upon said pendulum and adapted to be intermittently moved todifferent positions relative thereto, whereby to impart a propellingimpulse to said pendulum, and means for intermittently moving the sameto different positions, substantially as described.

5. A pendulum escapement of the character referred to, comprising apendulum provided at its upper end with a suspending frame, means forsupporting said pendulum by said frame to rotate about a circularcourse, means for preventing said pendulum from turning about its ownaxis as it rotates about its circular course, a spindle rotatablymounted in said pendulum frame to one side of the longitudinal axis ofsaid pendulum, said spindle having a laterally projecting weighted arm,a series of stops equally spaced and adapted to be engaged by saidweighted arm as it is revolved about said spindle, and means forsuccessively moving said weighted arm from one stop to another, wherebyit operates with each movement to impart a propelling impulse to saidpendulum in the direction of its circular movement, substantially asdescribed.

6. A pendulum escapement of the character described comprising apendulum profor intermittently moving said operating 10 vided With asuspending means to permit the means.

same to rotate in a continuous circular Signed at Portland, Multnomahcounty, course, a member carried by the pendulum Oregon, this 1st day ofNovember, 1915. and spaced from the suspending means, op-

erating means rotatably mounted upon said FERDINAND GUNDORPH' suspendingmeans and engaging the member In presence of carried by the pendulum forimparting im- I. M. GRIFFIN,

pulses to the pendulum, and a mechanism J. C. STRENG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

